Via a keynote at last year's Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in Boston, Kevin Dallas (left), general manager of Microsoft's Windows Embedded business, told attendees the company would forsake Windows Vista, using its forthcoming desktop OS, Windows 7, as a basis for its next x86 embedded operating system instead. This year, Dallas takes the ESC stage again to report how the company has delivered on that vision.

Dallas' address -- still underway when this story was first posted -- was to outline not only the "componentized" version of Windows 7 announced earlier this month, Windows Embedded Standard 2011, but also three additional embedded operating systems (OSes), according to Microsoft. The newly unveiled OSes are as follows:

• Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3
• Windows Embedded Enterprise
• Windows Embedded Server

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 is described by Microsoft as "the next generation platform of the componentized, real-time Windows Embedded CE operating system." It "marks a new paradigm for designers and developers to collaborate, dramatically improve UI capabilities, and reduced development time," the company says.

The first significant upgrade to Windows CE since the release of Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 in November 2007, the revised operating system continues to run on x86, ARM, MIPS, and Hitachi SuperH processors. A key addition is an "out-of-browser, native code implementation" of Microsoft's Silverlight technology, allowing developers to "dramatically improve user interface capabilities," according to the company.

Other added features in Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 include the following, according to Microsoft:

• New touch and gesture capabilities, including flicking and scrolling
• A revised version of Internet Explorer (IE) that allows zooming and panning around web pages
• PDF viewing capabilities, supplementing the existing viewers for Microsoft Office documents
• Easier connection to Windows 7 desktops via Windows 7 Device Stage
• An enhanced Connection Manager, making it simpler for programs to access every type of connectivity available to a device

According to David Wurster, a Microsoft product manager for Windows Embedded CE, the new Silverlight for Windows Embedded is implemented as C++ code rather than as a managed .NET backend, and will allow OEMs to create custom user interfaces within days. Silverlight will deliver "rich, immersive experiences" across every type of device, from digital picture frames for consumers to automation panels for industrial systems, he added.

Regarding the revised version of IE, Wurster characterized this as "the same basic technology that just shipped with the Zune HD [link]." Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 will include a "fully integrated implementation of Flash Lite," allowing display of rich media content on the web, he added.

"With the release of Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3, Microsoft has furthered its commitment to energize the evolution of consumer Internet devices (CIDs), which fall between smartphones and the full-featured, small Windows-based notebooks," Dallas stated. "Microsoft has reaffirmed its investment in the Windows Embedded CE operating system and raised the bar by providing embedded OEMs with access to Visual Studio, Silverlight, Expression Blend and other advanced Microsoft technologies," he added.

Windows Embedded Enterprise and Windows Embedded Server

Also announced at ESC were updated versions of Microsoft's x86-specific Windows Embedded Enterprise and Windows Embedded Server OSes. As company officials explained, these products are unlike either Windows CE or Windows Embedded Standard in that they're not componentized; rather, they include all the same code as the normal desktop and server editions of Windows sold to enterprise customers.

Ashwin Kulkarni, a senior product manager on Microsoft's Windows Embedded product team, explained to WindowsForDevices.com that the Windows Embedded Enterprise and Windows Embedded Server products are designed for OEMs who are not particularly concerned about the size of a device's OS footprint, and who do not want to spend resources on building custom OS images. Both product lines come with licensing restrictions mandating that the standard Windows shell should not be visible to end users; rather, devices need to boot up directly into whatever custom application OEMs want to build, Kulkarni explained.

Microsoft says Windows Embedded Enterprise, available as "Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems" or "Windows 7 Ultimate for Embedded Systems," includes the following new capabilities:

• New user interface features including multitouch and gesture support
• Legacy support through Windows XP mode, providing a virtual Windows XP environment
• Internet Explorer 8
• Windows Media Player 12
• Enterprise connectivity enabled by Microsoft DirectAccess and BranchCache (available on Windows 7 Ultimate for Embedded Systems only)

Windows Server 2008 R2 for Embedded Systems, meanwhile, is said to include the following:

• The Server Core installation option, which can increase reliability and reduce footprint by eliminating the graphical user interface
• Microsoft Hyper-V, which allows running new and legacy functionality side by side while ensuring workload isolation, and Windows PowerShell 2.0, which includes remote server management for improved ease of deployment
• Agile VPN, for a highly reliable virtual private networking (VPN) tunnel
• DirectAccess, to configure a "more secure communication path between remote devices and centralized data in headquarters, without going through VPN authentication"
• Improvements in failover clustering

Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft's OEM division, stated, "Providing Windows 7 technologies for OEMs to utilize in their next-generation devices will allow them to offer end users of enterprise and consumer devices enhanced capabilities through improved user experiences and connectivity to the established Windows ecosystem."

Availability

According to Microsoft, Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 plus the new versions of Windows Embedded Server and Windows Embedded Enterprise have all been RTM'ed (released to manufacturing), and should be available to OEMs as early as next week.

Windows Embedded Standard 2011, made available as a downloadable CTP (community technology preview) earlier this month, should RTM in the first half of 2010, says Microsoft.

More information on Microsoft's Windows Embedded operating systems may be found on the company's website, here.

Further information on Windows-specific sessions at ESC Boston may be found on our previous coverage, here.

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